Mounting for sheet-metal signboards and the like



F. M. WAGNER AND J. H. MATTHEWS. MOUNTING FOR SHEET METAL SIGNBOARDS AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 12, 1921.

Patented Oct. 10, 1922.

- JNVE'NTORS 5 W 7%, {0 N 6 I x763? 5 sign.

Patented Get. 10, 1922.

entree stares Mthltd FRANCIS M. WAGNER AND JAMES H. MATTHEVIS, 0F PITTSBURGH PENNSYLVANIA.

MOUNTING FOR SHEET-METAL Application filed September 12, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANCIS M. WAGNER and JAMES H. MATTHEWS, residing at Pittsbur h, in the county of Allegheny and State of ennsylvania, citizens of the United States, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Mountings for Sheet-Metal Signboards and the like, of which improvements the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to mounting for sheet-metal sign boards and the like, and we have made particular application of it in the building of a simple and durable street We shall describe our invention in this application of it.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig. I is a view in elevation of a street sign, in the construction of which our invention is employed Fig. II and Fig. III'are fragmentary sectional views, drawn to larger scale. The planes of section are indicated by the lines II+II and IIIIII, respectively, Fig. 1. Figs. IV and V correspond to Figs. II and I, and illustrate a certain modification.

he sign consists essentially of a standard 1, made of ordinary steel pipe, and plate 2, made of sheet steel. These are relatively inexpensive materials, produced in quantity and purchasable in the open market, and sufficiently durable,-all of which tended. It will be observed, on comparing the figures one with another, that the plate 2, which constitutes the signboard'is.disposed in a position substantially tangent to the cylindrical pipe 1 which constitutes the standard. It is the problem, solved by our invention, to make the sheet metal plate 2 strong to resist the strains of service-severe winds and accidental blows-and to secure it firmly and by inexpensive and easily applied means to the standard, care being taken that the point of securing shall not be a point of great weakness, where the plate mlght easily bend under strain.

We shall indicate first the means em ployed for strengthening the plate itself against bending. The plate is, as has been said, made of ordinary sheet steel; it is out to the shape of a long narrow rectangle. In that shape a sheet of steel may be bent transversely by relatively light strain. We strengthen the plate against transverse bending by forming in its opposite long edges sIeNBoARDs AND THE LIKE.

Serial No. 500,111.

the corrugations clearly illustrated in Figs. I and III. he mere idea of oorrugating sheet metal to resist bending is of course well known, and we do not seek to assert invention in the broad idea; but we do asin the adaptations we have made of this marginal corrugation.

here anticipate our further descripnote that the means: employed for elude a saddle 3, interposed between plate and standard; and, asis best shown in Figs. II and III, the medial portions of plate 2 areby the presence of this saddle member separated by the thickness of this member above and be corrugationsv above alluded to r afford actual tangency of the plate to the standard at its upper and lower margins. Furthermore, sheet metal chosen as suitable. material for this plate for the further reason that the letters, or

, embossingof such a narrow strip, substantially all the shaping strains are transverse, across the narrow dimension of the plate. Thus it comes corrugations may be effected in a single op eration in a metal-embossing press. The marginal corrugations afford lines of shadow which pleasingly define and frame the legend which the plate bears. Comparing the several figures, it will be observed that the marginal corrugations include an outwardlyconvex bend which rises preferably slightly face of letters. This feature of configuration too has its peculiar value. Such signscommonlyv are painted, and the face of the letters is painted in a color contrast ing with the field from which they rise. As the sign continues in service the colors become dull and the contrast diminished, and it becomes necessary fromtime to time to renew the painting, particularly of the face of the embossed letters. It is common to app paint to these parts by rolling over them a roller sufficiently saturated with paint. These marginal outstanding bends constitute tracks upon which the roller may rest and roll, and they determine the position of the roller, so that it shall make proper contact with the letters and give the proper quantity of paint properly distributed. These marginal corrugations then include a rearward or downward bend, affording actual tangency with the support, and a forward or outward bend. which in the case of the embossed plate afford tracks for a repainting roller. Preferably the particular configuration is that minutely shown in Fig. III, where as will. be seen the plate 2 comes to actual tangency with the standard 1 at its very edge, at 4, and also along a second line somewhat remote from the edge, at 5, while the outstanding bend 6 which serves as the track for the roller rises between these two lines of contact;

Coming. now to the means for attaching the plate to the standard, these include a saddle 3 and a bolt 7 Ordinarily a plurality of bolts will be necessary, to hold the plate rigid against vertical turning. The saddle is here shown to consist of two duplicate parts, standing apart vertically, and engaging the plate 2 adjacent its upper and lower marginal lines of corrugation. Manifestly these two saddle members might be made a single cont'nuous member, extending all the way or a portion of the way between the marginal corrugations. The arrangement shown, of two such members, gives a maximum of strength with a minimum of material.

Each saddle member consists of a bent plate, conveniently formed of sheet steel, such as the material of which plate 2 is formed. The plate is of rectangular form, bent on two lines parallel with the ends, constituting a saddle having these characteristics, which the drawings clearly show: a medial web, to which the numeral 3 is immedately applied, adapted to make face to face contact upon the back of plate 2 and to be brought to or substantially to tangency with standard 1, and terminal flanges 8 adapted when the parts are assembled to extend in directions approximately radial with respect to the cyl ndrical standard 1, and constituting struts or supports between plate 2 and standard 1. It will be observed that, in consequence of the presence of this saddle, bending strains upon plate 2 which otherwise would be concentrated in the line of tangeney between plate and standard, are spread widely and in consequence rendered less effective.

Belting is on the medial vertical line. Aligned bolt holes (preferably there are more than one) are drilled through plate 2, through-the med al web 3 of the saddle, and through the wall of standard 1. Through these holes securing bolts are introduced.

The form of bolt preferably employed constitutes part of our invention. It becomes what is in fact a rivet and consists of a shank 9 and a head 10. An axial hole is drilled from the head end, part way through the rivet, and in the opposite end a diametrical kerf is cut, to a distance sufiicient to overlap the dr'll hole. The rivet so prepared is introduced into the opening prepared for it, and when seated a spreader is driven into the drill hole. This spreader will ordinarily be a mere steel pin 11 (a nail will serve). The base of the drill hole in the rivet and the tip of the spreader are so relatively shaped that the driving in of the spreader will exert wedging action which will spread the cleft inner end of the rivet, from the initial shape, indicated in Fig. II, to the ultimate shape, indicated in Fig. 111. By such spreading the structure is made secure. The pin 11 may be withdrawn, or may be left, driven in. We have just said that by the spreading of the bolt the structure is made secure. Careful consideration of and comparison between Figures 2 and 3 will show that incidentally to the spreading of the bolt the web of the plate 2 is put under fiexure and so a strain tending to secure the parts in closely bolted position is set up.

e have already dwelt upon the fact that in pract cing our invention we may use materials produced in quantity and purchasable in open market, a circumstance which makes for economy. It remains to note, how inexpensive and at the same time how adequate our bolting of the parts in place may be. The holes are mere bolt holes-not the threaded screw holes usual in such structures; the bolts themselves are conveniently the cold rivets of commerce, which are made of soft steel. They may easily be drilled and cut as described. For the Spreaders, steel pins may be provided, or rivets of smaller size, or as has been said, an ordinary wire nail of suitable size may be employed.

Minute examination of Figs. 11 and III and comparison of them will show that, whereas in Fig. III the medial web of the saddle is actually tangent to the support, in Fig. 11 a slight space between appears. Fig; 11 shows the parts assembled, with the bolts not yet expanded. The parts may be so proportioned that, when the parts are assembled and before the'bolts are expanded, this slight space may be found. The taking up of such space will occur incidentally as the bolts are expanded, and will be effective to impose on the sheet a slight warp, tending to render it more rigid in its secured position. This, however, is a refinemenft which need not be taken into account.

The modification illustrated in Figs. IV and V involves the elimination of the saddle a separate element of the structure, and

in providing in its place strut members 8 as tongues, cut and bent aside from the body of plate 2, but occupying essentially the same positions when the parts are assembled, and performing essentially the same ofiice, as the corresponding parts of the saddle member already described. This modification, which will without further explanation be undersign in modified form is broken by the holes structure and infabrication,

stood, is a simplification gained at the expense of appearance; for the face of the from which the tongues 8 In some instances this may be no detraction, and the simplification and saving of material may render it preferable.

Ve have said above of the spreader 11 that it may be a deciduous or a permanent member of the structure, and thatit'may be a pin specially prepared, or an ordinary wire nail. WVe have said that screw-threading of the bolt hole is unnecessary, but we would not exclude from the field of our invention a structure embodying the essence of what We have described, and departing from our showing in detail by merely screwthreading the hole drilled in bolt 7 and forming the spreader with a corresponding screwthreaded shank.

We dwell again upon the simplicity and cheapness of our structure, in which well known properties of sheet steel are taken advantage of to afford a sign most simple in capable of being assembled with greatest ease, and when assembled secure and strong.

t We claim as our invention:

1. A structure including a sheet metal part and a cylindrical support, said sheet metal part being applied to and engaging said cylindrical support tangentially and being secured thereto by an expansion bolt, said are bent aside.

tongues extending from the sheet sheet metal part being further provided with strut members in the form of bent aside metal part and. from points thereof on either side of and remote from the point of tangency in directions which when the parts are assembled are radial to the support, such strut members making when the parts are assembled thrust bearing upon said support, sub stantially as described.

2. An article formed of resilient sheet metal secured to a cylindrical support by means of an interposed saddle, consisting of a medial web making face-to-face contact with said article and tangent contact with said support, said article extending beyond such area of cont ct and provided with a whole, the said aforesaid being held by said bolt by flexure under tension, substantially as described.

8. A sheet-metal street sign with embossed legend mounted upon a cylindrical support, the structure including, in addition to the signboard and the support, a saddle upon which the signboard makes bearing over an intermediate portion of its width and through Whichthe signboard is secured to the support, said signboard being provided with marginal corrugations, such corrugations ineluding outward track-constituting bends, and inward support-engaging bends, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto setour hands.

FRANCIS M. WAGNER. JAMES H. MATTHEWS. Witnesses:

WVM. M. JENKINS,

HENRY G. LEFFERTS. 

